


An Island Never Cries

by ghostmaya



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, It's set during a fake summer break between season 7 and 8 lol, POV Hunk (Voltron), Summer, Summer Lovin', Summer Vacation, it's all about the power of friendship and its beautiful, this is my last vld fic hope you enjoy :D
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 00:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19366882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostmaya/pseuds/ghostmaya
Summary: Hunk and the Voltron crew go out to spend an evening on an island; the same island he and Lance came to every summer during their childhoods.





	An Island Never Cries

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for [Summer Lovin'](https://summer-lovin-zine.tumblr.com/), go check it out!

The lake was still, reflecting the never-ending mural of the forest. Hunk breathed in, the smell of pine trees taking him back to his childhood, when his biggest worry was whether he got to go water tubing first. Looking out on the lake, a lazy breeze sweeping overhead and ruffling his hair, he could pretend Voltron and the Galra didn’t exist, imagining a timeline where he never left Earth. He could stay like this forever.

“Woohoo!” A blur of dangly legs and blue swim-trunks raced past Hunk, because of course they did, and disappeared over the ledge. He tried to move out of the way, but alas, he was not fast enough, and water splashed him right in the face less than a millisecond later.

“Lance!” He peered down at him from the rock he was perched on, glaring at Lance, who spat water out of his mouth like an extremely prideful dolphin.

“Oh, don’t act like you didn’t have it coming!” Lance yelled up, wearing that shit-eating grin he had when he thought he was the most hilarious human alive.

“So that’s how we’re doing it, huh?” Hunk shook his head, standing slowly, stretching his arms into the air and cracking his knuckles. He smirked down at Lance, catching a glimpse of fear in his eyes, before he wound back, and sprinted out into the air. Cool water engulfed his body, his butt and legs stinging from the blow, as he shot further down like a diamond drill in gravel.

Lance may have a head start, but that was only further motivation to get into the lead. The gangly legs were already jetting away faster than humanly possible, but Hunk shot right up after him, surprised at his speed. The water seemed to aid him, pushing and pulling where Hunk needed, guiding him to the surface. 

The air smelled sharp, and tasted delicious, pouring into his lungs. The sun was not merciful, its rays bouncing off the disrupted water, blinding his pathway. He splashed aimlessly forward for a moment, then found a rhythm. He grinned as he drew in his next breath.

Lance yelped from no more than a few metres in front of him. Hunk reached out, trying to get a hold of his foot, and barely missed. They already circled around half the island, and had acquired a rather loud audience. Whoops and screams filled the air, a current for Hunk latch onto and propel him forwards. The noise was incomprehensible until he rounded the bend, and heard Pidge’s narration loud and clear. 

“And as the two original legs of Voltron make it to the final _leg_ of the race, Hunk finally catches up to Lance, and the two of them swim neck and neck. Oh! A bold move from Hunk as he splashes Lance in the face, gaining the lead-- Ah!” Lance scooped Pidge from where she was standing in the shallows, and tossed her into the water. Hunk waded up to the area, and smirked at Lance, the two of them silently truce-ing for the new and greater cause.

As soon as the sogging mop of dirty blonde hair peeked up from under the lake, Hunk and Lance splashed at her with every ounce of strength they had. Pidge was quick to dive underwater again, and for a moment, everything was still.

“Lance,” said Hunk.

“Yeah buddy?” The two of them slowly gravitated together, back to back. Hunk swept his gaze over the silky smooth water. 

“I lost her…” The lake was so still that the only plausible explanation was that Pidge had somehow managed to transfer her Lion’s invisibility to herself.

Water sprayed the small of Hunk’s back, and he whipped around, bringing his hands and water with it. Pidge shrieked, falling back into the water again. She went limp and let her body float up to the surface, spreading out her arms and sticking out her tongue to play dead. A smile tugged at the corner of Hunk’s lips, breaking character as he watched Pidge’s performance.

“Pidge: 0, team Leg: 1,” Lance taunted, holding up his hand, which Hunk high-fived perfectly without looking. Nailed it. 

* * *

 

The three of them made their way out of the water, the hot summer air drying them off almost instantly. 

“Aw man, the rest of you guys really gotta get in the lake, it’s so refreshing,” said Lance, rubbing a towel in his hair. He passed it over to Hunk, the towel damp and matted, and he rubbed it on his head like a kid trying the static balloon trick for the first time. 

“It is quite a beautiful island,” said Allura, who was sunbathing on a flat rock next to Romelle. “The forest reminds me of home.” 

“Hunk and I used to spend every summer here with our families,” said Lance, “It’s almost surreal to be back here - it’s been so long.”

The last time Hunk and Lance were here together was around six years ago, nine if he wanted to count the three years they were in the void. They had so much fun here, catching fish, roasting marshmallows, waterskiing, singing songs around their makeshift campfire. Lance and him would try and catch the little frogs that lived on the island for hours on end, which then expanded to collecting as many bugs as they could find. The best part was scaring the adults with the creepy crawlies, putting centipedes on heads and shoulders and watching the show play out from a distance. 

He doubted Lance would be up to collecting bugs now; Hunk certainly wasn’t. That era was long gone, and he’d come to accept that. If he hadn’t let go of the past a long time ago, where would he be? Dead? Where would this _island_ be? Drained of its resources for the sake of the Galra?

A flame burned in Hunk’s heart. There was absolutely no way he was going to let the past, or future, take away from this moment, this short break before they had to leave again.

Birds sang to each other in the forest, and animals called out, filling the air with music that he could practically breathe. Even this small island was crawling with life; little ants crawled over Hunk’s sandals, a frog croaked and caught a fly in its mouth, and crickets started to chirp as the sun dipped lower in the sky. The rough rock under Hunk’s hand connected him to the ground, the ground that he was sharing with so many others. The air that he was breathing was tampered with by everything around him; the lake evaporating from the heat of the sun, and the island changing the course of the wind, parts of the sky getting caught in the trees and bushes that populated it. 

Hunk watched and felt life all around him, all on this small piece of land. An island being a metaphor for solitude couldn’t be further from the truth.

This connection that illuminated his body, had it always been there? A familiar itch at the back of his mind growled, and Hunk smiled to himself. The Yellow Lion, the stability of Voltron, was reaching out to him through the earth, through their element. Of course it had always been there, but since piloting Yellow it has become Hunk’s _existence_.

“Keith! Shiro! Get over here!” called Lance. The two of them were talking to each other on a rock that was jutting out on the lake, and began to make their way to the rest of them. He still wasn’t sure what kind of history Keith and Shiro had with each other, but he was glad they finally got a chance to catch up. As soon as they sat down, Lance whipped out the picnic blanket. “Hunk. The horderves, please.”

Hunk smiled, reaching into the bag behind him. “On this wonderful evening’s menu tonight, we first have one of Earth’s most famous snacks, originating all the way back from the twentieth century, drumroll please,” he said. Lance and Pidge both drummed their legs as he prepared the food behind his back. 

“Chips and salsa!” Lance said as Hunk threw two bags of chips in the middle of the circle, and placed the salsa jar down gently. 

Lance smirked boastingly. “I traded space rocks for these bad boys, you guys better treat it well.”

“Stop taking credit for my good taste, Lance,” said Hunk.

“Hunk no way! You actually got the right brand too!” said Pidge, her eyes sparkling. 

“When I said we were only going to have the best of the best tonight, I meant it.” 

He said it jokingly, but while the others were occupied in devouring the food, he glanced over to Pidge. She beamed at him, and he smiled right back, basking in the happiness that _he_ had caused. 

A breeze swept over the group, sending a shiver down his spine. It was getting dark, and they hadn’t even had dinner yet. He followed an exchange between Lance, Keith and Shiro for a bit (they were catching each other up on things they missed during the points of separation), waiting for a lull in the conversation, feeling like a student waiting for his teacher to finish talking to have his turn. He slowly wormed his way into the group, making his presence known. Lance noticed, and looked over to him with a cocked eyebrow.

“Dinner?” Hunk offered, smiling sheepishly. 

“Ugh, yeah, we should probably get on that.” He stood, stretching his back, and turned back to the others. “We’ll finish this later, alright?”

Lance ran to the boat to grab the meal while Hunk got the fire going. There wasn’t much in the way of firewood on the island, so they had to buy it at the resource store beforehand. Hunk was surprised it was the same as the last time he was there; the Earth was a much different place now from how he left it. It was little pieces of familiarity, the pieces of leisure and the human nature to have fun that gave him hope for the future. 

The fire radiated heat, illuminating the small clearing as the last traces of the sun disappeared. The fire pit and circle of logs were exactly the same as they were nine years ago. Except for the people who usually surrounded it. 

“Hey everyone!” Hunk called before he could even think about it, “Get over here!” 

“Is the food ready?” Pidge whined, wading over with a towel wrapped around her shoulders.

“No, but it is warm.”

“Fair point.” 

The other four soon followed, and Lance reappeared with the food, his guitar slung over his shoulder. 

“What’s that?” Romelle asked, pointing to the black guitar case. Hunk took the food from Lance and started preparing it; his hands moving on their own while he waited for Lance to work his charms. 

“This,” said Lance, as soft as one would describe their newborn child, “Is my baby.” He pulled out the instrument, and sat down on an empty log. 

“What!? You’re not being serious are you?” 

“Of course he isn’t,” reassured Allura, “Or at least, I hope he isn’t. That _is_ a joke, right?”

“Yes, yes, calm down. This is a human instrument called a guitar. We use it to make music and sing songs!” He strummed a chord dramatically, a familiar Latin tune, and said in a deep voice, “Like so.” He dropped the smirk and snickered at his own dramatics, and looked over at Hunk expectantly. Hunk rolled his eyes and shook his head, a smile forcing its way onto his face. 

The food was coming along nicely; they had managed to snag some juicy looking fish, perfect for barbeque. He stuck the first three onto paper plates and had them passed down the circle. 

“Alright, Shiro, give me a song,” said Lance.

“Me?” Shiro had been staring off into space up until that point, and Hunk tried not to laugh at the confused expression the man wore. 

“Uh, yeah, who else?” 

“You can play whatever you want Lance, I don’t really have a preference,” said Shiro.

“Well, I don’t have a preference either. Unless it’s a song I don’t know, but you’d be surprised at how many songs I know. But other than that I don’t have a preference.” Lance’s hand started moving up and down the strings, his other mindlessly picking at notes, a soft pathless melody wafting through the air. “There has to be some music that you miss from Earth.”

A wave of pride washed over Hunk. _This_ was his best friend. It was so subtle, but anyone who knew him well would know that he was being incredibly thoughtful. Of course Lance would have Shiro choose a song; he’s been through the most out of all of them, and was away from Earth for the longest. He had no idea how that man was still keeping it together. Hunk may be the support of the group, but he didn’t have a sense for those things, not like Lance did. 

Hunk wasn’t even sure if Lance knew he was doing it sometimes; it was so ingrained in every decision he made, that Hunk often had to remind him how important he was in his and their friend’s lives. He had such a taste for empathy, and knew exactly what to do when faced with it. 

“I guess… No you probably wouldn’t know them, they’re really old,” said Shiro.

Lance rested his face in his hand, his arm nestled in the crook of the guitar. “Try me.”

“Have you heard of Simon and Garfunkel?”

Hunk smiled, as did Lance, Pidge, and even Keith, who perked up more than smiled. Lance chuckled. “What kind of guitar player do you think I am?” 

Lance picked the guitar strings, and the seven of them stumbled their way through song after song. To a professional singer, the group of them may have sounded awful, but as they all belted out, or mumbled a tune along to Lance’s playing, their singing was the most beautiful thing Hunk had ever heard. 

It smelled like smoked fish, and the crackling fire added a warmth to their singing. Allura, Shiro and Pidge had fallen asleep, laying on shoulders and laps. Lance sung in a whisper, switching between Spanish and English songs. 

Hunk looked up, millions of stars blinking down at him. Without light pollution, the milky way was clear; the familiar constellations he’d known growing up were slowly moving across the horizon. With a tired blink, he realized he hadn’t thought about how much he missed life before Voltron for these past few hours.

He looked around again, at Romelle, Keith, and Allura, all new friends who taught him so much. At Shiro, his friend and mentor, who was constantly inspiring him to be better. And at Pidge and Lance, his best friends, who’ve always been there for him, since the beginning. He scooted next to Lance, who rested his head on his shoulder, still lazily picking at his guitar. Hunk closed his eyes, and listened.

The island still had room for one more family, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, thanks so much for reading! You can find me on [Tumblr](https://ghost-maya.tumblr.com/) where you can definitely talk to me about my writing! 
> 
> I wrote this work a while ago, and have since moved on from Voltron. It is very unlikely you'll be seeing any further work from me for this fandom, but I hope you stick around because I'm still writing! Upcoming is my Banana Fish big bang piece, and I'm writing for AshEiji, a wonderful ship that I love with all my heart.


End file.
